Official blog of the Sacramento Progressive Alliance, one of the largest and most vibrant progressive activist groups in California with more than 8,000 members. We educate and mobilize Progressives in Sacramento, the surrounding foothill areas, and at Sac State and Folsom Lake College.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley speaks during a campaign stop in January 2016 in New Hampshire. Photograph: Jim Cole/AP

Donald Trump’s acting deputy secretary of homeland security was called “the son of immigrant grandparents who cages children for a fascist president” on Wednesday night, by a man who forced him to leave a Capitol Hill bar on Thanksgiving eve.

That man was Martin O’Malley, former Baltimore mayor, governor of Maryland and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.

It was the latest in a string of incidents in which angry opponents of Trump have confronted members of his administration in public.

Such incidents have led to debate about the need for civility in US public life – particularly after Trump himself was booed at a World Series game in Washington in October. The first lady, Melania Trump, was booed in Baltimore on Tuesday, when she delivered remarks at a conference on the opioid epidemic.

A Twitter user who met O’Malley at the pub first reported the incident, writing: “Martin O’Malley just drove Ken Cuccinelli out of the Dubliner in DC [with] a passion-laced and shame-invoking tirade on behalf of immigrant refugee children!!!”firings

Siobhan Houton Arnold later told the Post: “O’Malley was shouting. I don’t think Cuccinelli was responding. I think he’s like, ‘Time to go. Just got here and I’m leaving.’ He pretty much retreated.”

O’Malley told the Post he had not shouted, but had raised his voice to be heard in a busy bar as he gathered with fellow members of his class at Gonzaga, a Catholic high school in Washington from which Cuccinelli also graduated.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

If you live in California, you have almost certainly encountered homelessness. It’s the most visible symptom of the state’s vast economic inequality and is often the top concern among Californians from across the political spectrum.

So we reached out to the people who best know what’s helpful and what’s not: those who have experienced homelessness themselves.

We heard from dozens of Californians, and nearly everyone who shared advice echoed the same basic request: Treat people you come across with dignity and respect. Don’t avoid eye contact, but do avoid making assumptions.

“When I was young, I judged those drinking or using on the sidewalks late at night,” wrote Joh Rathbun, of Santa Cruz. “I now know that a tall boy or two is much cheaper than rent.”

No gesture of good will is too insignificant, she added: “A small nod to recognize someone’s humanity can be monumental.”

Some said that offering a hot shower or a safe place to camp or park overnight helped ease their burden for a little while. But some also said it’s O.K. to set boundaries for yourself.

Many said that simply offering fresh food, clothing, blankets, water, batteries or hygiene products directly to people living outdoors was helpful.

Impeachment continued to build momentum in Washington, D.C. this week thanks to impeachment supporters who made calls, sent emails, and took to the streets last month. In October, impeachment supporters attended and asked questions about impeachment at more than 137 town halls. In November, Congress has taken notice. We’ve now heard from multiple key witnesses who are confirming some of the most damning facts about Trump’s use of military aid to pressure Ukraine to interfere in our elections.

If you didn’t catch all 24+ hours of this week’s public impeachment hearings or need a 2-minute summary, here are the key takeaways:

Tuesday, November 19th:

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testified that he was so disturbed by Trump’s July 25th call that he immediately brought his concerns to the NSC lawyers, and he confirmed that Amb. Sondland raised politically motivated investigations to the Ukrainian delegation in a meeting John Bolton was forced to cut short. He also confirmed that no one supported Trump’s inexplicable decision to freeze military aid to Ukraine.

Jennifer Williams pointed out an omission in the “transcript” of the July 25th phone call that the White House released. It failed to include mentions of Burisma, which is evidence of a coverup on the part of the Administration.

Kurt Volker made it clear that there was and remains no evidence that Joe Biden acted improperly in Ukraine. The former Vice President did not try to shut down an investigation into his son’s company and Volker says that Trump’s attempts to launch an investigation into Burisma were baseless.

Tim Morrison testified that he understood clearly, from conversations with Ambassador Sondland, that Zelensky had to announce an investigation into Trump’s political rival in order to receive the congressionally approved foreign aid.

Wednesday, November 20th:

Ambassador Gordon Sondland declared, in no uncertain terms, that there was a quid pro quo between this administration and Ukraine. He also makes it clear that this was not just a case of a few bad actors. Those at the highest level, including Secretary Pompeo and Trump, knew about this corrupt deal.

Laura Cooper confirmed the timeline. In direct contradiction of a Republican talking point, Cooper testified that Ukranian officials knew about the hold on security assistance just hours after the July 25th phone call.

David Hale, one of the Republicans’ own witnesses, testified that withholding aid to a desperate ally is “unusual,” “completely inappropriate,” and just plain “wrong.”

Thursday, November 21st:

Dr. Fiona Hill testified that the Ukraine pressure campaign was a "domestic political errand" that had nothing to do with corruption in Ukraine. She also pointed out that furthering conspiracies about the 2016 election to distract from Trump’s bad actions only helps Putin.

David Holmes testified that “the security assistance hold was likely intended by the president either as an expression of dissatisfaction with the Ukrainians who had not yet agreed to the Burisma/Biden investigation or as an effort to increase the pressure on them to do so.”

So what did we learn this week? Witnesses confirmed that President Trump:

Pushed Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 elections.

Used US military aid and a visit to the White House to bribe and extort a foreign government into digging up dirt on his personal political opponent.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

We are going into a critical election year. The working class of Chicago just flexed their muscles with a massive strike against their neoliberal Democratic mayor. And in Washington the impeachment hearings continue, prompting an aggressive backlash by the Republicans.

As civil war hashtags are trending on social media and Trump is backed into a corner, desperate to find a distraction, let’s remember the wise words of legendary American socialist Eugene Victor Debs at his Canton, Ohio speech against World War One. His birthday was November 5th. War, he said, is a racket, unless it’s the class war:

“That is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose — especially their lives.

“They have always taught and trained you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at their command. But in all the history of the world you, the people, have never had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.

“And here let me emphasize the fact — and it cannot be repeated too often — that the working class who fight all the battles, the working class who make the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace.

Yours not to reason why;Yours but to do and die.

That is their motto and we object on the part of the awakening workers of this nation.

“If war is right let it be declared by the people. You who have your lives to lose, you certainly above all others have the right to decide the momentous issue of war or peace.”

Last February I was working as a waitress in downtown Manhattan. I worked shoulder to shoulder with undocumented workers who often worked harder and hardest for the least amount of money.

I didn't have health care. I wasn't being paid a living wage. And I didn't think that I deserved any of those things because that is the script that we tell working people here and all over this country.

It wasn't until I heard of Bernie Sanders that I began to question and assert and recognize my inherent value as a human being that deserves healthcare, housing, education, and a living wage.

Now I am in Congress — and I'm proud to say that the only reason that I had any hope in launching a long shot campaign for Congress is because Bernie Sanders proved that you can run a grassroots campaign and win in an America where we almost thought it was impossible.

Last month, I stood with more than 25,000 people in Queens, New York City, where I endorsed Bernie Sanders for president. And now I am asking you to add your name to say you support Bernie too.

When I was a baby, my family relied on Planned Parenthood for prenatal care, and back then Bernie Sanders spoke for me.

When I was growing up and education was being gutted for kids in the “wrong” zip code, Bernie Sanders spoke for us.

When I was a waitress and it was time for me to graduate college with student debt, Bernie Sanders was one of the only ones that said no person should be graduating with life-crushing debt at the start of their lives.

Bernie Sanders did not do these things because they were popular — and that’s what we need to remember. He did this, and he fought for these aims and these ends when they came at the highest political cost in America. No one wanted to question this system. And in 2016 he fundamentally changed politics in America.

What we need to do in this country is to organize a positive and welcoming mass movement that is centered on the working class, the poor, and the middle class. One that is actively anti-racist and that is rooted in principles of universality of cooperation.

We need a United States that really, truly and authentically is operated, owned and decided by working people in this country.

Our movement is multi-racial, multi-gendered, multi-generational and multi-geographic. We have to come together not by ignoring our differences, but by listening to them, prioritizing them, and understanding injustice.

The movement that we are building together is one that can not only elect Bernie Sanders, but that can truly transform our country to work for everybody. That is why I am asking you today:

Feel the Bern!

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Mission Statement

Welcome to the PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE. We are a multi-racial, multi-issue "rainbow coalition" dedicated to social justice, peace and building progressive power. Our key priorities include economic justice; equal rights and equal opportunities for all regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation; international solidarity; humanitarian service; eradicating poverty at home and abroad; environmental protection and sustainable development; and electing progressives to public office and then holding them accountable.

Founded in 2005, we have grown to more than 7,000 members and have emerged as one of the largest and most grassroots activist groups in California. We are proud to serve as a local chapter Our Revolution, the national movement inspired by Bernie Sanders' historic 2016 Presidential Campaign, and as a local affiliate of United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ), a network of several hundred peace and justice groups from all over the world.

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